Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

Homemade vanilla frozen yogurt is a perfect summer treat. It is lighter than ice cream but still has all the creamy goodness and delicious vanilla bean flavor!

Whoa, how is the summer almost over? Some of my blogging friends have already started posting pumpkin recipes! I’m not complaining – pumpkin is my second love (after peanut butter) and I bake with it year round. But I have so many summer recipes I still want to make before the summer ends. Things with corn and tomatoes and berries and peaches and zucchini… I have a lot of baking to do between now and Sept 1

So since I’m not quite ready to embrace the pumpkin, today I have a perfect summer recipe for you – Vanilla Frozen Yogurt!

As I mentioned in this post, I don’t have an ice cream maker. I live in a one-bedroom apartment in NYC so we have very limited storage space. I made room for a Kitchen-Aid Mixer (necessity!) but there is just no room for an ice cream maker (or a blender, or a food processor, or a salad spinner, or a stock pot…the list could keep going forever). So when I visit my parents in St. Louis, I love to make things that I can’t make chez moi – like ice cream! Or in this case, frozen yogurt.

My sister and I attempted frozen yogurt without a recipe last summer, and it failed miserably. Ok it wasn’t the worst flop – it still tasted like delicious sweet raspberry yogurt, but it didn’t freeze at all! So this time around, I followed a recipe from the geniuses at Cook’s Illustrated – and of course it worked perfectly! Their secret is to use gelatin – it helps everything set up very nicely. This froze to the absolute perfect consistency. It was so thick and creamy!

I ate some of the yogurt when it was freshly churned – the texture was exactly like soft serve frozen yogurt! But unfortunately that consistency doesn’t photograph well . It just looked like a giant soft blob in a bowl, definitely not Pinterest-worthy! So I froze the yogurt, that way I was able to get nice pretty scoops!

The flavor of this vanilla frozen yogurt is excellent. You get a hint of yogurt tang and the perfect amount of sweetness. And then there is the vanilla! I am a vanilla lover. Some people think vanilla is boring but not me – I can’t get enough vanilla flavor. I added some vanilla extract in addition to the bean to add even more vanilla goodness to my frozen yogurt.

Vanilla frozen yogurt is the perfect summer treat. It is much lighter than ice cream, but is still super creamy and tastes decadent. It is delicious topped with berries, on a slice of cake, on top of a warm brownie…the options are endless for this delicious summer treat!

Refrigerate mixture until it cools to at least 40 degrees. Pour into canister of an ice cream machine, and churn until frozen. Eat as soft frozen yogurt, or let it harden in the freezer in a sealed container.

I also live in a small apartment so I can totally relate to you about having a lack of space to store kitchen gadgets. Anyway, I never realized frozen yogurt was so easy to make! This looks so refreshing and is perfect to enjoy in the warm summer weather!

This sounds so tasty! I’m sad I don’t have an ice cream maker. I did hear the attachment for the Kitchen Aid stand mixer is pretty awesome. Maybe someday! Enjoy the rest of summer, it’s still here until at least the end of the month, and then we can get serious about pumpkin.

I feel ya girl with the love and admiration for pumpkin season, but I want to get through Summer first lol! We’re always living so far ahead of ourselves. This vanilla frozen yogurt looks delightful especially with the beads of vanilla running through it..I would put fresh fruit on it YUMMY!! I never ever make homemade ice cream I need a darn ice cream maker! I need to invest!! Thanks lovely!

OMG ME TOO! I have so many summer things I still want to try! Ice cream and crumbles and pies and now this absolutely amazing froyo — you’ve just reminded me that frozen yogurt has been on my to-make list forever and ever. Yours looks incredible. I love the gelatin trick for such a dreamy consistency (and those vanilla flecks get me every time). I’m veto-ing September 1st until I can try this!

I know what you mean about not having many kitchen gadgets, Cate! I’m using my mother-in-law’s kitchen at the moment and all I have is a stick blender that my husband found in his cupboard. No food processor, mixer, ice cream maker etc. etc.
I love that you combined yoghurt with vanilla bean here. It looks very professional!